Far above the besieged city, well out of range of the defender’s anti-air defenses, a squadron of
Argus SAWACs craft carefully monitored the situation far below, handling a rather impressive amount of secure military communication and intelligence for the Elysium invasion force. Their multifaceted sensors acted like a thousand eyes, efficiently pinpointing the large enemy formations of infantry, armor, and anti-air defenses far below in the city. They provided a clear battlefield map to the upper echelons of the Elysium military-no large scale movements would happen without the Lion’s forces being aware of it, courtesy of the Empire’s military buildup and ever-evolving doctrine from a somewhat backwater Imperial remnant comprised of refugees and outcasts at the far ends of the galaxy into a competent and modern fighting force.
Aculia sighed softly to herself as she overheard the conversation between
Rex Valhoun
and
Grand Shepherd Burtch
as she flew with one of the
War Hawk squadrons circling the city, carefully staying out of range at the moment. You would figure after staving off a potential assassin, bombarding those avians, blowing up an ion cannon, and helping to bury one of the more annoying and problematic Dobsons, she could at least get a mention from him on this operation! I mean, she was fine with the credits, of course, but she had been doing a lot of work! Just as much as
Martin Dux had, and he got to smooze with the King and she didn't! It wasn't her fault she refused to wear those stupid outfits of the Lion's!
"Alas, maybe one day our young King will deign to recognize his humble servant", she thought sardonically, smiling a little as she did so, "
until then, I think I will add a little surcharge to Burtch’s fees."
“ ‘Blueberry*, I’m going to take my squadron and conduct SEAD from afar, if you can get us a little bit of air dominance and keep their fighters from chasing us once we drop our payload. We’ll focus on their mobile and infantry based AA, since the guided missiles will still track them if they start moving as a result. You can take the fixed emplacements. Then ‘Kingpin’** will have an easier time with his ground assault."
She was really glad that she and
Dorthea Dobson
had decided to put more of an emphasis on
standoff weapons, contrary to the usual Imperial doctrine of simply swarming the enemy to death with weight of numbers. It was a bit more expensive up front, but when one considered the losses avoided in doing so, it actually ended up being an economic plus in the end. Plus, you know, dead pilots were hard to replace in a short period of time, and droids…well…there’s a reason not every ship in the galaxy was commanded by them.
Signaling to her squadron and one of the others who had been circling around, they grouped up on the far outskirts of
Sanji Hoss
's forces, out of range of most of the enemy air defenses, sans their longer range missiles, which they were fairly well-equipped for. And then, with the targeting data being fed to them by the Argii squadron, began their attack run.
Scores of heavy and medium
HARM missiles dedicated to hunting down enemy radar signals streamed across the sky, leaving brilliant plumes over the Elysium forces, as the War Hawks unleashed their full payload. They were soon answered by the long-range missiles of the defenders, which struck out from the city in the opposite direction in response, their trajectories tracked with precision by the SAWACs above. Enemy AA flak, laser, and shorter range missiles attempted to engage the HARM rockets, but their sheer speed and number, with over one hundred and twenty rockets fired from her squadron alone, meant that many would get through.
A fact that was soon confirmed as numerous small explosions slammed into the enemy air defenses with ruthless precision rippled throughout the city, black smoke and fire hurtling towards the heaven and waves of chill death permeating throughout the Force along with it. Many of the mobile AA vehicles and infantry squads soon learned a very painful final lesson in tactics that not every enemy would simply and easily fly into the range of their guns, that mobility really didn’t help all that much against missiles that could simply speed toward you at a far faster speed than you could move, having your radar on all the time was a very bad idea, and that maybe they should have invested in more of a space and air force over ground based defenses. She might have felt sorry for them...except they were slavers or in service of them, and she delighted in knowing they were going to die agonizing, painful deaths from above without so much as even seeing their enemy. A tremor of darkness emanated from her, if any were around and observing through the Force.
You bastards deserve every single missile that hits you. For what your kind did to them...and to me...
Aculia did not have time to admire the destruction, however, as the long range, heavier missiles flew towards her squadron. She had the advantage thanks to the SAWACs warning and tracking of them but they were still the biggest threat her squadron faced.
“Evasive maneuvers! Active ECM, Flares, chaff now! Like we practiced!”
If any of the ground forces were watching, a grand fireworks show soon erupted above them, as enemy SAMs met with flares, chaff, and electronic interference. Aculia hoped Burtch had sent the fighter escorts to intercept whatever kind of fighters they might encounter-they might be to make it out with minor losses to the SAMs if he had, but they were too slow to evade interceptors.
*Her favorite codename for Burtch
** Her codename for Rex.
